パノラマ島綺譚 (Advanced Book Club)

Ohhh, it’s so neat :christmas_tree:

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As a taste of what maybe to expect from the book, the afterward by Kenji Ohtsuki to the previous collection of Ranpo stories I read has a fun list of what he considered 8 charms of Edogawa Ranpo’s writing:

① タイトルのネーミングのウマさ
② イラストレーションとのマッチングの妙
③ ユートピア願望
④ 母胎回帰願望
⑤ ショック! 残酷描写
⑥ つっこみどころまんてんのトンデモなさ
⑦ ダメ人間の悲喜劇
⑧ レトロおしゃれな東京散歩

or as I roughly translated at the time:

  1. a knack for titles
  2. a strangeness living up to the illustrations
  3. utopian aspiration
  4. returning-to-the-womb aspiration
  5. shock!
  6. perfectly comic absurdity
  7. tragicomedy of hopeless people
  8. strolls through retro-cool Tokyo

All of these were amply demonstrated in that collection, except for the wild illustrations (I think he was talking about the editions that look more like this) and the “utopian aspiration,” which is where he talked about Panorama Island quite a bit. I’m not sure exactly what that means, but I’m looking forward to finding out!

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It’s been October 23rd already for quite a while in some parts of the world, so here’s the first thread!

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Second thread is up!

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It’s Saturday Morning on Panorama Island and here’s Week 3:

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More like パノラマ島綺肆! Part four!

Is it time to 五 to Panorama Island???

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列五!

“Post must be at least 10 characters” :laughing:

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It’s the dead of night, technically Saturday morning on Panorama Island, so here’s part 6!

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It may technically be Sunday on Panorama Island, but it’s Saturday in my heart.

Week 7!

Please note also this is a 2 chapter week (because the next chapter is quite long).

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Thanks for the heads up. I’ll time my teeth-brushing sessions accordingly.

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I should start doing that again.
I stopped reading at night because I was scared off by the warning… and never got back in the habit. I’m three weeks behind at the moment, I think :sweat_smile:
Edit: Ah, but only one chapter away from being two weeks behind. Let’s go.

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Technically it was a declaration of enthusiasm! :sweat_smile: (albeit one for grave robbing and rotting corpses…)

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Enthusiasm? :sweat_smile:
Well, it wasn’t so bad (or at least very short) and nothing similar came up yet, so maybe I should just go back to my previous schedule. At one chapter a day, I should be able to catch up eventually.

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You could brush your teeth in the morning as well for a change though :thinking:

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I do too! But I’m usually busy making sure my kids are ready to go at the same time. Mornings are hell!

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:joy:

I’m in favor of this conversation.

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Time for the penultimate trip to Panorama Island!
I’ll warn it’s an intense section but I hope you bear with it for the last section next week!

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The 綺譚 reaches its end!! Last week!

I would remind you that it’s two chapters instead of three this week but I feel like you can figure out where the reading ends on your own.

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I won’t be posting the threads (or reading the book again), but I do hope you stick around (after a conveniently-timed break) for the next Advanced Book Club pick: 本陣殺人事件!
I definitely recommend it!

There’s some interesting continuity, as it’s written by 横溝正史 who was reportedly the original editor of Panorama Island as it was serialized (although it was written 20 years later than Panorama Island). I think he makes a super interesting contrast with Ranpo, and I hope you agree!

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